Public housing wait list fall attributed to 'one-off' funds

An emergency accommodation provider says the Victorian Government is still lacking direction on public housing, despite a reduction in the waiting list.

The figures for the June quarter show the waiting list is at its lowest level since March 2008, with 1,110 applicants in Bendigo.

The State Government is taking the credit for the decrease, saying it is a result of better management.

However, Haven's Ken Marchingo says the reduction is more likely the delayed result of a big federal funding injection to the sector in 2009.

"So ... great news but let's not get too carried away with it," he said.

"There's been no more money coming into the system in any great sense since then and any indication of new money coming into the system since then, so what we've got is a one-off hit and I think we're seeing that in the numbers that are coming through in terms of a modest reduction in terms of waiting lists, which is great but there is still a complete and utter absence of policy."